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Tragic loss of a genius African leader, Prime Minister Meles Zenawi

By Berhane Kahsay, August 26, 2012

Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi genius African leader

Ethiopia has lost a great visionary leader who has been working tirelessly to lift his country from abject poverty. In just twenty-one years, Prime Minister Zenawi has transformed his beloved Ethiopia beyond recognition. Its economy has been growing at a double digit figure for the last two decades. Not bad for a non-oil producing country to be placed among the top five economic performers of the world. Democracy and respect for human rights as enshrined in the FDRE constitution is flourishing. Ethiopia is no more on its knees and its people are now walking with their heads high and feel proud to disclose their identities.

The death of Prime Minister has sent shock waves throughout Ethiopian, and the people are finding it extremely difficult to cope with the tragic and untimely loss of a man who has been relentlessly persevering to return his country to its former glory. His demise has touched everyone very deeply, and the entire country is in the grip of severe sadness and sorrow. Never in the history of the country has there been mourning on this scale. Meles is hugely loved by his people and this has been clearly and unequivocally expressed in the last few days. He earned their respect because of his tremendous achievements over the last twenty-one years, and it was for this reason alone that he managed to win three successive general elections. It was also as a result of Meles’s solid support and following that caused the failure of the numerous calls for an uprising of the Arab sort by the very few toxic Diaspora. The PM’s brand of federalism is now firmly entrenched in Ethiopia and many African countries blighted by ethnic conflicts view this as a model for the continent and beyond.

No doubt Meles’ legacy will remain with us for many years to come, and whoever is going to replace him, should continue with the good work and take Ethiopia to the next level. This is what the people want and expect as they have made it quite clear during the last few mourning days. Also the people have made it patently obvious that they are happy with the current federal system, and would do anything possible to ensure its survival. Unity with diversity is here to stay with us for good, and those who are foolishly endeavouring to scupper it will incur the wrath of the populace.

The world is watching with amazement the magnitude of support the African leader has among his people. Millions of Ethiopians in every corner of the nation are in mourning and the country is flooded with ‘tears’. This is an eye opener for the very few foreign ‘journalists’ who repeatedly label the great African leader as a dictator and human rights violator. The Ethiopian people do not think so and millions have come out in masses to mourn him in an extraordinary manner. Meles Zenawi will no doubt have a special palace in the history of Ethiopia, and it is not Meles who has died but it is the few toxic Diaspora who are making a living by besmirching the good name of our beloved country.

We are deeply saddened and shocked by the unexpected loss of our esteemed Premier, and our Condolences to his family, especially his children, who were not able to have their father’s love as he was never there for them. Their dad was always at work until the late hours of the morning day in day out as he was resolutely determined to extricate his country from poverty of the worst kind.